No. 60 Georgia State Outlasts Cougars In Eight-Hour Match, 4-3

ATLANTA, GA Feb. 24, 2013 – In perhaps one of the longest matches in program history, the College of Charleston men’s tennis team fell short of the upset bid of No. 60-ranked Georgia State, 4-3, on Saturday night at the Blackburn Tennis Center.

In an epic eight-hour dual match which began with singles play and the first team to reach four points, the Cougars (2-3) took four of the six singles matches into three sets against the Panthers (7-3).

Sophomore Sebastian Lopez (Medellin, Colombia) did a great job of controlling the entire third set at No. 2 singles to defeat GSU’s Thomas Cook, 7-5, 2-6, 6-0, and level the match at one-all after junior Brice Allanic (Colombes, France) fell in straight sets to No. 75-ranked Victor Valente, 7-5, 6-1, at No. 1.

CofC would fall behind in the count dropping three-setters at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, but made a valiant effort to rebound from the 1-3 deficit in the match.

Sophomore Alon Faiman (Ramat Hasharon, Israel) broke his opponent’s serve to come back and get into a tiebreaker in the second set and carried that momentum to close the match out over GSU’s Andrew Zedde, 7-5, 7-6, at the No. 5 line.

In the last singles match standing, freshman Zack Lewis (Richmond, Ky.) played half of the second set and played an incredibly brave third set to tie the match at 3-all and forcing the match to be decided in doubles. He dispatched Sofiane Chevallier, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

In doubles action, the Cougars were outplayed at the No. 2 position, but played a flawless doubles match at No. 3. Lewis combined with freshman Josh Record (Tallahassee, Fla.) and fought back from being down a break twice in the match to force the tiebreak. The rookie duo stepped up and brought huge energy to win the breaker, 7-0.

Nearing the 11 o’clock hour, it would come down to the final doubles match of the night as Allanic and Lopez battled Georgia State’s top doubles team of Robert Schulze and Thomas Cook. Both teams had a match point, but the Panthers prevailed on their second opportunity. The official time count of the match was seven hours, 47 minutes.

“Overall, we were incredibly proud of the guys,” CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. “With the way matches went on one at a time, it gave every guy a chance to compete and be a leader. They all showed up and gave themselves a chance to win. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way. To be a part of a match like this, with such a young lineup, is a great experience that we will learn from. We still have a lot to improve on and are looking forward to a couple days of practice, before we hit the road again for spring break.”

CofC will open Southern Conference play this weekend at Chattanooga on Saturday, March 2 at 1 p.m. (ET) in Chattanooga, Tenn., and then at Samford on Sunday, March 3 at 1 p.m. (CT) in Birmingham, Ala.

About the author

Michael "Beach Mick" Hudson is the founder and Editor of Beach Carolina Magazine. Living along the coast of North Carolina, Mike has a passion for the beach and loves to bring news and events of the Carolinas to others around the world.

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